On September 23, the document was signed by representatives of 15 Ukrainian employers, the Minister of Youth and Sports Vadim Gutzeit, Acting Minister of Education and Science Sergey Shkarlet, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Igor Petrashko, a representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine Jaime Nadal, and the Chairwoman of CSR Development Center Marina Saprykina. From Metinvest side, the Pact was signed by Chief Legal Officer of the Group Svetlana Romanova.
The purpose of "Pact For Youth 2025" is to create conditions for self-fulfilment of young people in Ukraine. Since 2016, the initiative has been bringing together the efforts of state and business in addressing the challenges of youth education and employment. This has been the most extensive initiative on partnership between the state and private businesses, which united 148 employers to create 45 thousand jobs for young people. The initiative was recognized by CRS Europe as one of the best practices for young people in Europe, and the UN global initiative on Decent Jobs For Youth called the Pact one of the world's best examples of delivering Sustainable Development Goal 8.
All who signed the document committed to creating 20 thousand apprenticeship opportunities and jobs for youth before 2025, and organize one thousand partnerships between the business and educational institutions. There is also a plan to create a Ukrainian mentoring platform to help young people (especially from socially vulnerable categories) build their careers. Over one thousand of business representatives will become mentors for 1,500 young people to help build their career in profession.
Svetlana Romanova, Chief Legal Officer of Metinvest Group:
"Joining the Pact for youth's sake is a logical step for Metinvest Group. We've been working with school and university students and graduates for a long time now showing the attractiveness and the opportunities technical professions can offer them. The Ukrainian enterprises of the Group employ about 1,300 graduates each year. Every year, over four thousand students go through on-site training at our enterprises. This year alone, Metinvest will spend over $1.5 million on youth programs. Our apprenticeship programs give young people an opportunity to get their first job. During the last seven years, for example, dozens of young lawyers had their apprenticeship at the enterprises or in the management company of the Group, and the best of them now work in Metinvest. We are willing to share our knowledge and experience in order to take the education system to a wholly different level of quality making young people want to study and work in Ukraine."
Metinvest Group takes part in developing educational programs for the youth, describing national standards for technical professions and supporting skills competitions.
As an example, the company will be the general partner of WorldSkills Ukraine for the fifth time this year, which will take place from 29 September to 13 October in five cities of Ukraine. Students and workers aged 18 to 22 will participate in the skills competition. This competition helps introduce world's best practices into the education system, improve the efficiency of vocational orientation, and prestige of blue-collar jobs.
For seven years now, Metinvest has been supporting the architecture competition Steel Freedom, where students of relevant universities develop projects by designing steel structures for customers from all over Ukraine. This year, the competition started on 1 September, and its final will take place on 28 November. The team that presents the most interesting architectural solution will receive a special award from the company - a trip to EXPO-2020 in Dubai.
Since 2017, the Group has been organizing M.Student CHAMP, a competition where university and college students are given real business tasks to solve. A mentor from Metinvest is assigned for each team together with a supervisor from an educational institution. Tours to manufacturing sites, consulting by experts, lectures and workshops on related topics help develop the competencies that are needed for future professions. The winners get special prizes, and the best of them are offered jobs at Metinvest.